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Seeking a Light on McCain’s Gambling Winnings

Senator John McCain may have had some luck at the gambling tables. But one watchdog group thinks he needs to report his gambling winnings to the federal government.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has called on the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether Mr. McCain’s failure to list his gambling winnings on his federal financial disclosure statements violated federal law and Senate rules.

Mr. McCain enjoys gambling, something he has never hesitated to admit. He has frequented casinos as often as once a month and, on one lucky night at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, walked away with several thousands of dollars in winnings.

Now the watchdog group, which describes itself as bipartisan and calls itself CREW, has pointed to regulations saying that compensation and gifts exceeding $200 must be reported on these financial statements, and that Mr. McCain has not done so.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, took issue with CREW’s legal analysis. He said that the Senate Office of Government Ethics has never required the disclosure of gambling winnings on its financial reports as part of “earned income.” Mr. Rogers further noted that winnings from “games of chance,” he said, are just matters of luck, and cannot reflect any gifts or ties that might beholden a lawmaker to the donor.

Neither CREW nor the McCain campaign has disclosed how much Mr. McCain has won – or lost – over the years. But he’s not the only member of Congress to have lady luck smile on him, according to CREW.

Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, won more than $800,000 in the lottery, which he listed on his disclosure form. Representative John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, has reported $2,700 in slot machine winnings, while Representative Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, reported $19,500 in winnings at the Cities of Gold Casino.

Obviously, McCain doesn’t want his penchant for gambling to be news, as the social conservatives don’t like that particular habit. And it does seem that if other senators and congressmen have reported lottery and casino winnings, McCain should too.

Anything to remind right-wing Christians that they don’t really like McCain, the top of the ticket.

Well it seems McSame and Palin both have a problem reporting their taxes correctly…I guess they think they are above all of us voters and the law…Wellthey are not and this along with Palins should be looked into…

Perhaps Lady Luck will smile on all of us and convince Mr B Rogers Neighborhood to show us the figures. McCain once dated a stripper i Florida, so why not some closed-doors ‘strippoker’ on who tells all to CREW.

Ms. Palin said. “If this is true….” Listen, IF it were true, it’s an indictable offense. Like your charge that there is apparently a “terrorist” in Chicago that Obama associates with. So why not call the cops, Ms. Palin, call the FBI, it’s your duty, you’re a Governor of a state, an officer of the court, if you don’t report these crimes then you are an accessory. WORDS MEAN THINGS! I’m sorry, I thought David Brooks was a little harsh when he said Palin was a “cancer” but now I think he didn’t go far enough. Palin is starting to metastasize

For income purposes, a taxpayer reports excess of gambling winning over losses for the year. One night doesn’t mean much for someone who goes to casinos somewhat frequently and probably has losing days, although we don’t know anything about that from the article.

We have two different issues here. The Senate Ethics Committee may decide whether it wishes to take note of winnings from games of chance. The Internal Revenue Service requires reporting of net gain from gambling for taxation purposes. Theoretically Senator McCain should be maintaining adequate written records to permit the IRS to determine compliance. If he has, and pays taxes when appropriate, that is great. If he has not then we have (or he has) a problem.

McCain seems to have significant personality contradictions. Is he impeccable and honorable or is he a gambler who is likely to take unnecessary risks when it comes to making decisions while running the country?

If you ask me the choice of Palin was a gamble, risking his very candidacy. I agree, I believe he threw moose eyes.

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